While news coverage is almost obsolete on commercial radio stations,
National Public Radio's All Things Considered is still on the air and
still going strong.

While news coverage is almost obsolete on commercial radio stations,
National Public Radio's All Things Considered is still on the air and
still going strong.

The news program, which reaches its 30th anniversary on Thursday, is now
heard on more than 530 stations by 10-million listeners across the
country. Locally, about 105,000 people listen weekly on WUSF-FM 89.7
from 4 to 6 p.m.

All Things Considered is like a radio version of Time magazine. The show
airs everything from news, business and science reports to arts
features, political and social commentary and satire. It gives listeners
stories and context not offered on many radio stations.

"Commercial radio just sort of gave up on news because they
underestimated the awareness and intelligence level of the audience,"
says Noah Adams, one of three hosts of the show. "More and more stations
are owned by fewer and fewer companies, and the grand old news stations
aren't there anymore."

Adams, who has been with the show for 17 years, handles the hosting
duties with Robert Siegel and Linda Wertheimer. The two-hour show is
broadcast from Washington, D.C., with reports filed worldwide.

When All Things Considered started in 1971, it was 90 minutes long and
heard on about 90 stations. The first show included on-site coverage of
anti-war demonstrations in Washington.

Part of the evolution of All Things Considered is due to the increasing
number of NPR member stations. More stations has meant more funds
raised, including more corporate support. Now the show has the money to
do things such as send a correspondent to a Russian language school
before dispatching her to cover stories in Moscow.

Without commercials to contend with, time is also on the program's side.

"Not that every story needs more time but you can do stories at a longer
length and get into a situation that's pretty captivating for an
audience," Adams says. "You can also do that with interviews. I can't
write and produce a radio story that is

more compelling than the best
conversation where it's so intimate and real that people feel as if
they're eavesdropping."

Adams, 59, estimates that he has done about 20,000 interviews during his
time with All Things Considered.

"The thing that makes it worthwhile for me is to go some place and talk
to people who don't know or care who I am. They are working at something
that's important for their community," Adams says. "Maybe you can help
them and maybe you can't
but they don't really care because they are just going on with their
work."

To mark the program's anniversary next week, Adams, Siegel and
Wertheimer will each host a broadcast highlighting a controversial or
groundbreaking issue from 30 years ago and how the issue has evolved or
been reconciled.

WQYK'S WEAKEST LINK: Though their decision was not permanent, listeners
of country station WQYK-FM 99.5 got the chance to play general manager
last weekend during the station's "Weakest Link Weekend" promotion.

Based on NBC's new television game show, listeners were asked to vote
for the weakest link among WQYK's on-air staff. With 3,800 votes cast by
phone and online, afternoon personality Dave McKay got the boot. Hank
Dale, midday man and host of
the Classic Cafe, was a distant second.

"Now there's a morale-building station promotion," Radio Ink, an
industry publication, commented on its Web site earlier this week.

"I don't care what people outside the market say," responded WQYK
operations manager Eric Logan. "Listeners thought it was a fun and a
different way to interact with the radio station."

As the weakest link, McKay wasn't allowed to co-host the Randy and Dave
Show Monday from 3 to 7 p.m.